This exciting horror thriller was the second to star Christopher Lee as
Count Dracula, the vampire king (he played a vampire in the Italian
comedy Uncle Was a Vampire, but he wasn't Dracula). Excellent
photography and a convincing cast, plus an exciting climax are offset
somewhat by a script so peculiarly structured that Dracula doesn't even
appear until 48 minutes into the movie.

English brothers Charles (Francis Matthews) and Alan Kent (Charles
Tingwell) are touring Transylvania with their wives, Diana (Suzan
Farmer) and Helen (Barbara Shelley). They encounter blunt but friendly
monk, Father Sandor (Andrew Keir), who warns them to stay away from
Carlsbad, especially from the castle near there.

Despite this and the consternation of strait-laced Helen, they head
toward Carlsbad anyway, and through a series of circumstances, end up
at that castle.
T
o their surprise, they're greeted by gaunt, soft-spoken Klove (Philip
Latham), who says that though his master, Count Dracula, has been dead
for ten years, he had ordered Klove to provide hospitality to any
travelers who needed it. However, that night, they learn Klove has
other plans -- plans that climax in his bringing Dracula back to
life....

Even though we don't see Dracula for so long, the opening now seems
classic, almost mythic. There have been many horror movies about
travelers forced to spend the night in a sinister old dark
house/mansion/castle; Hammer used the plot themselves repeatedly over
the years. Even in 1966, it was obvious from the moment we meet our
four bland travelers that they're going to be vampire fodder before the
movie is over.

Once Dracula is spectacularly restored to life, in a gleefully ghoulish
sequence with still-impressive special effects by Les Bowie, the movie
barrels straight ahead, with only a few peculiarities or sidebars, such
as Charles escaping from the castle with Diana -- and then immediately
insisting upon returning alone.

The script by "John Sansom" doesn't create much conflict between the
human characters -- after Dracula's arrival, they're too busy -- but
does suggest that the vampires are having some kind of social problems.
Dracula has to pull the vampirized Helen off her intended prey of Diana
more than once. Diana a couple of times. This makes for a sensational,
hissing entrance for Dracula at one point, but does lead one to wonder
just how Dracula planned to keep Helen in line in the first place.

As in Hammer's predecessor, Horror of Dracula, Lee is very lively and
dynamic as Dracula, leaping down a flight of stairs, violently
struggling with Francis Matthews more than once, and meeting a strange,
icy demise. He has no dialog -- there's some uncertainty as to why --
which makes him rather remote, but unlike Horror of Dracula, we know
he's a supernatural menace from his first spooky shot. And dialog
wouldn't enhance his scenes very much.

Actually, the only one in the movie with interesting dialog at all is
Andrew Keir's shrewd Father Sandor (so say the credits -- he's called
"Shandor" in the movie), a rifle-carrying outdoorsman of a monk. Keir
is outstanding, brusque, efficient, intelligent; although all those
traits apply equally well to his title role in Quatermass and the Pit,
his other Hammer movie, Keir totally differentiates between the
characters, and Sandor emerges as the hero of the piece.

If Dracula, Prince of Darkness isn't one of Hammer's very best films,
it's at least among the top of the second rank. There's no wonder why
this film helped revitalize Hammer, and why it led to even more Dracula
sequels with Christopher Lee. For those who think the height of horror
is, say, Child's Play 3, Dracula, Prince of Darkness may seem anemic,
but there's room on the horror shelf for a wide variety of movies.

Hammer's Horror of Dracula was a major hit in 1958, but Lee evidently
balked at playing the character again. So when 1966 came and Dracula,
Prince of Darkness, starring Christopher Lee as the vampire Count, was
released, fans the world over were tense with excitement -- could the
film equal Horror of Dracula?

The answer was no. This disappointment caused the film to be
undervalued for many years; only recently, with the revival of interest
in Hammer Films, has Dracula, Prince of Darkness come to be seen as the
well-made, exciting horror film it is.

The script, credited to John Sansom, was written by Jimmy Sangster (as
"The Revenge of Dracula") in the late 1950s, but didn't get made until
Hammer formed a partnership with Seven Arts Pictures for four movies.
Just as Plague of the Zombies and The Reptile were made back to back,
so were Dracula, Prince of Darkness and Rasputin, the Mad Monk. The
script was altered somewhat by Anthony Hinds (who used the pseudonym
"John Elder" on his Hammer scripts), so a combined, one-time-only alias
was employed.

Terence Fisher returned as director, working in Techniscope, an
anamorphic process. He and cinematographer Michael Reed turned out some
of the most handsome work in Hammer's history, demonstrating a sure
grasp of wide-screen photography.

The Anchor Bay DVD also includes some supplementary materials of
varying interest. Audio Track 3 features running commentary by
Christopher Lee, Barbara Shelley, Suzan Farmer and Francis Matthews.
It's clear the actors are very fond of one another (and that the last
three tend to defer to Lee); while their chatter is very relaxed and
warm (so much so you can actually hear them drinking their tea), it
sometimes tends to be a little garbled.

However, it's also full of the kind of information that thrills fans,
such as that whenever Barbara Shelley screams, it's Suzan Farmer we
hear. Lee tends to ramble on, but to his credit he knows it, and
audibly keeps trying to shut himself up, which will only endear him
further to his millions of fans (and irritate the handful who don't
like him).

The other side of the disc includes the usual theatrical trailers, and
an unhelpful, thin episode of a British TV series about Hammer vampire
movies. It's narrated by a bored-sounding Oliver Reed, skips over some
of the Hammer vampires (like their later Karnstein series), and says
very little about the clips they do show.

But also on side two are some home movies shot by Paul Shelley, Francis
Matthews' brother, and this, too, has a commentary track by Lee,
Shelley, Farmer and Matthews -- the latter being the only one to have
seen this material before. The other three are clearly delighted,
seeing long-ago friends and co-workers young and alive again. It's
always been said that Hammer Studios had a very family-like atmosphere;
this brief but quite wonderful footage is visible proof.

Well-made on a medium budget, Dracula, Prince of Darkness is an
effective thriller; though slightly dated, anyone who enjoys horror
films from the past is likely to have fun with this one.